The present invention relates to medical devices, in particular, the present invention relates to a container for storing medical guidewires and catheters in solution during medical procedures.
Medical guidewires are utilized during endoluminal catheterization procedures typically performed by interventional cardiologists, interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons.
Multiple and different types of guidewires are often required during a single procedure. Typically, the same guidewire may be needed more than once during a medical procedure and therefore it is practical and economical to store the guidewires in specific solution during the procedure.
Typical length of a guidewire is 31.5 to 118.1 inches (80 to 300 cm); most commonly used are 70.9 inches (180 cm) and 102.4 inches (260 cm) long. Typical diameter of guidewire is between 0.014 to 0.0040 inches. When the guidewire is coiled up a typical coil diameter is between 7.1 and 11.0 inches (18 and 28 cm, respectively). Due to the length and the extremely small diameter of the guidewires, handling of these devices during medical procedures may be difficult. Moreover, guidewires are made of material that by its nature resists coiling. If the guidewire-coil is not properly stored the guidewire may rapidly uncoil and the up shooting end of the wire may cause injury and the wire may get contaminated.
Moreover, the wires get easily tangled, and untangling the wires increases risk of contamination. It may be difficult to differentiate between the guidewires if they get tangled. Moreover, a medical procedure most often requires fast action and clearing a tangled guidewire creates unnecessary waste of time.
Yet another problem with the currently existing guidewire containers is that the guidewires are stored in liquid and if each guidewire is stored in separate container the amount of storage solution becomes large. Also having each guidewire in separate container creates a problem in operation rooms where available surface space is limited.
A further problem with currently available containers is that loading of the guidewires into the container is difficult and slow.
There are several containers currently available for storing guidewires. The containers known so far are circular or ovoid shape so as to prevent the guidewire coils from opening. However, none of these solve the problems indicated above.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,691,946 and 6,547,072 disclose a medical bowl for a coiled guidewire. These devices are meant to help to keep the guidewire in a coil. The bowls allow storing a single guidewire in a single bowl. The idea of stacking a multitude of bowls on top of each other to save surface space in the operation room is disclosed.
Similarly, U.S. Patent Application Publication U.S. 2010/017816 discloses a bowl with retention devices to hold a single coiled guidewire in a single bowl.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,416 discloses a container for medical guidewires where several wires can be stored in one container. However, handling of the wires in this container is not easy, loading the wires into the container is slow and difficult, and distinguishing between the wires is also difficult because only the end of the wires remain visible.
Accordingly, there is a need for a novel container to store medical guidewires in solution during medical procedures which overcomes the problems described above.